Canadian Army

Last Thursday, Lieutenant General Paul Wynnyk became the commander of the Canadian Army and quickly stated the Canadian Army could possibly deploy troops in Africa. As a matter of fact, according to Wynnyk, a deployment to Africa was imminent. Although many regions in Africa would benefit from having Canadian soldiers on the ground, Mali has been mentioned on many occasions.

According to Michael Ferguson's latest audit, the Army Reserve is clearly lacking "clear guidance on preparing for international missions, had lower levels of training as cohesive teams, and had not fully integrated this training with that of the Regular Army." Adding to that, the number of reservists is lower than needed and are not fully prepared to deploy when required.

With our combat role in Afghanistan a thing of history, there's a feeling that Ottawa (i.e. the Harper government and most politicians) want to wash their hands of the military. Bring the boys and gals home, leave a token force there, and forget about 'em.

I don't think you can know what it is like to make a decision until you have had to make that decision yourself. I don't know what it would be like to pull the trigger of a gun and take a life. I don't know what it would be like to flee my country as a refugee or a political dissident.

In peacetime, bureaucracy tends to expand as the number of soldiers decreases. The one thing that our military does not need is cutting back the size of the regular forces. The Canadian army is already smaller than it should be for the tasks it is asked to perform.

Last week, Brig.-Gen. Daniel Menard, the former commanding officer of Canadian troops in Afghanistan pleaded guilty to a relationship with a subordinate. But is it the business of Canadians and the military rank and file to be concerned about such a relationship?